Why People Die in Yosemite: Not Enough Cliffs

Several people have had fatal accidents in Yosemite this year, which has brought up the question of why people die in Yosemite. In his classic, Staying Alive, Ranger John Dill mentions three states of mind that cause people to die or be injured: ignorance, casualness, and distraction.

Ignorance may be the most important of these, at least for casual visitors. I don’t mean to say that casual visitors are unintelligent, but many of them are ignorant. Put me in a rural town in China and I’m ignorant. Put anyone in a place they’re not very familiar with and they’re ignorant. (By calling some casual visitors ignorant, I’m not insulting them–just saying that they’re not fully aware.)

Three people slipped into the Merced River and went over Vernal Fall recently, yet they were no more ignorant and only slightly less lucky than dozens, if not hundreds, of other Yosemite visitors that day. Many, many visitors get too close to the water in dangerous places every summer day without realizing the peril they’re putting themselves into.

Here’s a section of the Mist Trail. It doesn’t look very scary (to most people) and most people wouldn’t be too scared to walk along the left (river) edge of the trail. Yet, a slip from the trail would result in almost certain death–if not from the slide, then from the river below (as happened this year and in 2009). Indeed, the slope you see here is just as dangerous as a 3,000-foot cliff. But people don’t perceive it that way. Most people have an innate fear of cliffs and are (usually) extra careful when less than several feet from the edge. However, along this section of trail, most people don’t exercise the same amount of care because it just doesn’t look as dangerous as a cliff.

Rivers and creeks in Yosemite attract people, if not just for the joy of being close to water, for some practical reason like washing their face or getting drinking water. But, in many places, these rivers and creeks are also just as dangerous as a 3,000-foot cliff, and most people don’t perceive them that way. This may explain why the three people went over Vernal Fall–they didn’t understand (they were ignorant of) the danger of the river and, as a result, made a poor (ignorant) decision. Like most people, they didn’t have an innate fear of the river; they didn’t equate the river with a cliff.

Most people also don’t understand how that “cliff” known as the river is surrounded by a slippery slope (literally)–the smooth granite adjacent to rivers is slick, and extremely and surprisingly slippery when wet. So, while some people are un-ignorant enough to avoid going into the water, they’re just ignorant enough to feel safe on the figurative crumbly rocks (slippery slope) at the edge of the cliff (river). I’ve known rangers who’ve made this mistake. I’ve made this mistake. My ranger friends and I made a poor (ignorant) decision, but were just slightly more lucky than the three who went over Vernal Fall.

So, “ignorance” isn’t just a lack of knowledge, it may also be a lack of instinct, at least in some cases. Once again: a slippery slope or a river is just as dangerous as a 3,000-foot cliff.

Ignorance leads to casualness, one of the other factors. Casualness can operate on its own, though, and perhaps explains the case of the two hikers swept off one of the Wapama Falls bridges as water flowed over it [see also this near miss] and perhaps also the case of the hiker who fell off the Half Dome cables during a thunderstorm (where wet, slippery rock and/or lightning may have been a factor). In these cases, I believe these hikers knew the risk (i.e., they were not ignorant) and made a judgment call, which turned out not to be a good one. Travel in the wilderness involves a lot of judgment calls and any experienced wilderness traveler has made plenty of bad ones, but a little extra skill or luck has prevented tragedy. Crossing a high creek is akin to dashing across a road with oncoming traffic because you think you’ll make it across just quickly enough to avoid getting hit. With decent judgment, you usually will. But not every time.

The third factor, distraction, can affect even the most careful person. This was probably another factor in the Half Dome incident, given the storm and the fact that lightning struck Half Dome around the time of the fall (it’s not clear, to me anyway, whether lightning was a factor or not, but undoubtedly, the storm was distracting and probably also caused the hiker to be rushed).

Finally, I should point out that many people have scolded all of these victims for crossing a bridge with swiftwater flowing over it, for going over a railing and into the water immediately above a waterfall, or being on the Half Dome cables during a thunderstorm. We’ve all made similarly bad decisions, but were a little luckier and possibly more skilled/better prepared than these six people. I’ve gone off trail and put myself into potentially dangerous situations before. Anyone who has spent time in the wilderness has done the same, and has a story (or two). In the urban environment, you’ve sped up to get through the intersection before the light turned red, rushed in a left turn with oncoming traffic, and maybe even made an unsafe pass. In these cases, we all made poor decisions. We’ve been ignorant, casual, and distracted, and the only difference between them and us, between living and dying, was a little luck and maybe a little extra skill.

Have you read Deep Survival by Lawrence Gonzalez? Slightly off point but a great read. Thanks for posting this. More than any of my ten years in the park this was a deeply reflective year for this topic. We at the Hetchy entrance were hit hard by the Wapama incident. The following incidents only exacerbated the feelings. I believe that the more this kind of conversation gets out there perhaps the less ignorant and casual the experiences (not so sure about the distracted)?

When I look back to the summer I worked in Yosemite, there were a lot of things that I did that could have resulted in injury or death if the circumstances had been just right (or, more accurately, just wrong). I hiked Ledge Trail, hiked Half Dome before the cables were up, and ventured out to Hidden Falls a number of times. Even relatively safe hikes could have been problematic, like a 35-mile solo day hike I did along the north rim, scampering over rock slide areas on the Old Oak Flat Road coming down. But I was 20 and wanted to see everything I could pack into a summer. I almost got myself killed coming down Lembert Dome at dusk because it was dark and I was dumb enough to think I could save myself some time by hiking straight down the face of it (I still shake my head at my idiot self on that one).

I was back in Yosemite last week (I live in MN) and for the first time ever my wife and I only hiked the Mist Trail up to the footbridge below Vernal Fall. We camped in a friend’s backyard on the Ahwahnee Meadow and generally took it easy. But my wife was 16 weeks pregnant and we’d hiked 14 miles in Colorado the previous 2 days. I’m sure we’ll make a return trip with energetic kids and will get further than the dam at Hetch Hetchy. Hopefully I’m a bit wiser with the risks I take, and hopefully the luck I’ve had will stay with me and get passed onto my kids.

Anyway, thanks again for this great reminder for all of us to respect nature more.

I wrote a short blog post on this subject right after the Modesto kids went over Vernal Falls. Just being aware of the dangers of the park can help a person survive. I keep telling people, it’s not Disneyland. No one has sanitized the national parks. It is the wilderness. The terrain is treacherous and the animals dangerous. Watch your step.

Thanks for the posting. I have often mentioned much about John Dill in the all day tours that I give, using information from a dinner to honor his work with the Yosemite Search & Rescue. That dinner occurred a couple of years ago.

Currently, I have been working on my theme for the Grand Tour. Part of that theme is “how to better inspire oneself in Yosemite”. These ideas will fit very well into that context, and I’ll start using them.

We have much to be grateful for that John Muir was more aware of the dangers and also lucky when he went out on a ledge under Yosemite Falls, or up in a tree during a raging storm, or ascended a 3,000 foot snow covered ravine and was swept to the bottom in an avalanche. He survived those episodes where with most people it would have been fatal. He wanted like most people to do something that would draw him closer to nature, but in doing so, it drew him closer to the potential of his own demise.

What you wrote made me also reflect on my experiences in Yosemite…of hiking the ledge trail to Glacier Point, and of getting lost with my wife looking for the Devils Dancefloor and being out in the wilderness for 25 hours without food or water.

Devil’s Dancefloor is the Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite! I once spent 6 hours walking in circles trying to get back to the car, after dark came a little sooner than we were ready for, with a cloudy sky (no stars to act as guides), and only a keychain flashlight! Since then, I always plan on being caught in the dark, and hike with a real headlamp in my pack, just in case.

I had to work in the Visitor’s Center the next morning and I was more worried about being late for work (and the reason – how embarrassing to be a *ranger* late for work because of getting lost!! I never get lost! I hike cross-country, have done solo backpacks, have explored all over the park, have been out to the Dancefloor numerous times, even led walks out there! How could that have happened?). I knew when it got light, I’d have no problem, since I knew the terrain pretty well, but that pride thing… ouch.

We finally found Tamarack Creek and followed it up to the (closed) campground where I had parked, around midnight. So I made it to work on time after all, but it definitely changed my perspective.

Since then, I’ve talked to several rangers and other NPS staff who’ve had surprisingly similar experiences out there, so I don’t feel so bad. :)

I might add another cause of accidents to Jeffrey’s list because of that experience: hubris. I thought it couldn’t happen to me because I knew what I was doing. It can happen to anyone – we just do things to reduce our chances, but we can never eliminate those risks, nor do we want to, because then it wouldn’t be wilderness.